Of Crows and Songbirds (Part 2)

(Awesome!)

About a week later, Captain Bay returned to the dungeons at Gaius's behest and went to Aleth's cell. Nobody besides Nox and Loren had spoken to Aleth; only soldiers came by with food in silence. They'd taken the blankets from Nox and Loren, and left Aleth with only one.

It was a depressing turn of events. And he’d sort of feared that outcome. But at least his sacrifice had established rapport and was therefore worth it.

He tensed as Bay entered, pushing himself to his feet warily.

"Somebody's in trouble," Loren whispered.
Bay ignored him, unlocking the door and approaching Aleth. "Come with me."

“Yessir.” Aleth swallowed hard and strode towards him, anxiety bubbling up in his gut. At least he’d had a week to think through the details of his story.

Bay took his arm and led him deeper into the dungeon.

The anxiety made it to his chest. Why were they going deeper? He didn’t like that. He didn’t like that at all.

Bay brought him to a small room near the back and led him inside, then shut and locked the door. There was one chair and other than that it was empty.

Aleth glanced around. That was good, at least. That meant he just planned on beating it out of him. He didn’t want to make it into a room that had tools.

Bay himself had a small pack with him, which he set down by the chair and then sat in the chair. "Have a seat," he said to Aleth.

Well, shit.

Where did he expect him to sit? Aleth very much didn’t want to sit anywhere near the chair. But. Well. It’d be better than making him chase him. There was nowhere to go. Aleth hesitantly walked forward until he was in front of the chair then sat against the wall. He doubted himself. He didn’t like having his back against the wall. But. Well. Too late now.

Bay leaned forward. "So, Aleth. Do you know why you're here?"

How intentional. Making him feel small. He dropped his gaze. “No sir.”

"So your full name is Aleth, then." He took a notebook from his pack as well as a charcoal pencil and started writing.

Ah, fuck. He was going to need to watch himself. He dipped his head. “Yessir.”

"Who are you affiliated with?"